


Match Maker

by fanetjuh



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Modern Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 09:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15116960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanetjuh/pseuds/fanetjuh
Summary: Crown Prince Robb Stark and his wife Margaery Tyrell are traveling through the North to meet the people. No one knows that their marriage has been arranged, but maybe, just maybe, they are slowly falling for each other anyway.





	Match Maker

Margaery smiled while she greeted the little girl with the prettiest and most of all cutest flowers Margaery could imagine in her tiny hands. “Thank you so much, what’s your name?” She leaned in to make the distance between her and the girl barely reaching her chest smaller. 

“Margaery, just like you.” The little girl’s cheeks were blushing and Margaery took the flowers from her while she pressed a soft kiss on the girl’s cheek. 

“A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. It is nice to get to know you.” She nodded once more and then she felt the hand of her husband touching her lower back. 

It was still weird to call him husband. Usually you called someone husband after years of shared pain and laughter, but Robb and her had met only once a year ever since their childhood until their engagement had been announced half a year ago. 

Whoever tried to tell the press and the people that arranged marriages weren’t a thing among royal families these days anymore, had clearly not lived the same life she and Robb lived.

“Are you stealing the hearts of my people already?” His touch was tender and the tone of his voice was warm and playful. 

Margaery had to admit that he was rather charming and had the hidden talent of conquering hearts left and right. Even her friends who were very aware that Margaery and Robb hadn’t had a choice in the matter kept on telling her how lucky she was to have gotten Robb’s hand in marriage. Somehow she wondered if his friends would tell him how lucky he was to have gotten her hand in marriage too. 

He moved his lips to her ear and whispered. “I get the impression they really like you, Margaery Tyrell.” 

Margaery smiled and she turned her head towards him, all too aware that countless of cameras were clicking to catch this moment and post it to whatever social media they were all using. “That was the point of this mini tour through your country, wasn’t it? To make the people like and accept me as their future queen?”

Robb smiled back at her and the arm on her lower back moved her a little closer towards him. Even though they had only announced their engagement half a year ago and had not had much privacy since then his touch felt familiar and natural. At some moments it was even possible to believe that Robb Stark did feel something that came dangerously close to love.

At some moments it was even possible to believe that she herself felt something that came dangerously close to love. 

“It was.” Robb agreed and he lifted his hand to wave at the people who had traveled across the country to catch even the slightest glimpse of him. “But if you ask me, you’re succeeding a little too well. It won’t be long until your popularity among my people will surpass mine.” His lips brushed her cheek and Margaery raised her eyebrows slightly. 

“Does the future king feel threatened by this future queen?” She teased him and leaned back, knowing all too well that everyone who witnessed their conversation would talk about their chemistry and love, about their connection, about the way they looked at each other and spoke to each other and how amazing it was that their crown prince and the eldest princess of their neighboring country had fallen in love with each other.

“A little.” Robb kissed her cheek one more time before he let her go. “But there is also this part of me that totally understands where their love and adoration are coming from.” He looked over his shoulder while he walked to the other side of the street to greet the people waiting there.

One day he would be a great king. The people loved him. He had inherited his father’s charisma, his mother’s firmness and exactly the charm and wit the modern times asked for. His country was on the first place in both his heart and mind, as it should be. And he had surrounded himself with intelligent advisers to challenge his own thinking and to confront him with all those scenarios he couldn’t come up with on his own.

It would be hard to find her place here, to set her own goals and live up to them. But Margaery had never shied away from hard. Hard was not the same as impossible. Even those things that were hard, were accomplishable. She would make sure that she was not just eye candy dangling from his arm. She would make sure that she was not just loved for her pretty smile and sense of fashion. She would make sure to become more than the woman who had married Robb Stark, King in the North. 

But she also had to admit that she could have ended with a far worse match. She thought about the eldest son of the King in the South. His father was not known to be a good king, caring more about his own hunting parties and expensive dinners, but his son was known to be cruel, maybe even sadistic. Probably in a couple of years he would be known as the psycho King who had turned his country into a republic.

Even here, in a country where people loved the king, were people who wished to have a republic instead of a monarchy. They complained about the money that was spent on the royal family, their castles, their yachts, their salary’s for doing nothing but waving and shaking hands and opening stores and buildings. They complained about it being old fashioned, out of time and something from the middle ages, representing how some people are simply better than others because they’ve been born into the right family. 

Part of her job, and the goal she wanted to achieve, was showing the public eye, and especially those who were critical of her and her husband, that she did not simply earn her money by looking pretty and smiling at the right people. She was too intelligent to let that happen. She had too many talents to let that happen. She would become the queen known from her own achievements, from everything she had accomplished and problems she had solved. She would be known for dealing with crisises like no one else could. 

With a thousand thoughts running through her head Margaery walked further down the route. She asked for more names, got more flowers and gave away more free kisses. Her husband once in a while touched her arm or whispered something in her ear to make her giggle. 

Eventually they reached the small stage placed in front of the town hall. 

“Dear amazing inhabitants of the wonderful city of White Harbor and everyone who has traveled here to meet me and my wife.” He once again wrapped an arm around Margaery’s waist and pulled her as close to him as he dared. “I want to thank you all for your generosity, your kindness and the warm welcome you’ve given us. I know that there are many problems to solve and I promise that we will face them all together.” He stepped aside and he pulled Margaery behind the microphone. 

“Today we’ve been celebrating and it was amazing to see all your smiling faces. But I promise that we will also be there in the less happy times. We will provide help and guidance where needed.” Margaery let her eyes scan the crowd in front of her and even though she was used to speaking to crowds ever since she was a little girl, she enjoyed the comfort of Robb standing next to her and holding her firmly. “Therefore my husband and I have a gift for you. We’ve heard that ever since the last storm the public schools are still without new schoolbooks and study materials.” Margaery cleared her throat. “I will personally make sure that the best possible notebooks, pens and guides will be delivered to every school here in White Harbor. Because the education of our students is the future of the North.” 

The loud applause that emerged from the sea of people in front of her was overwhelming and after Robb and Margaery waited a few seconds they faced each other with a bright smile on their faces. They knew what the public wanted, apart from schoolbooks, notebooks and dolls to play with. They wanted a royal kiss. 

Robb was the first to lean in and his warm mouth covered hers. They did this in every town, but still Robb managed to turn every kiss into more than just a kiss for the public eye and the running cameras. 

Margaery closed her eyes and leaned on the tips of her toes while the enthusiast screaming of the crowd slowly faded. 

Her lips were still tingling when she and Robb were led to the helicopter parked in the nearest open field. As a true gentleman Robb helped her to step in and then he took the pilot’s seat. 

“Are you still enjoying yourself during this tour?” Robb checked all the parameters and buttons and he put the earphones on his head. 

“I am.” Margaery nodded. “And sometimes you seem to forget that I’ve grown up a princess too. I’m not new to this world, Robb Stark.” 

“But you are new to the North. My people can be quite passionate.” Robb concentrated on the flying and smoothly he lifted the helicopter from the ground. 

“I can be quite passionate too.” Margaery folded her hands in her lap, fighting the instinct to grab his arm and squeeze it.

“I've noticed that.” Robb took a short moment to look at her when they were safely in the air, flying back towards Winterfell. “I wish we had spoken to each other more before our parents announced our engagement.” 

Margaery raised her eyebrows. “An official royal meeting once a year with too many classic concerts and 7 course dinners wasn’t enough for you?”

Robb shook his head while he took a turn. “I would have preferred something less official and less long.” Robb spoke softly. “But if we had spent more time together, I might have not wasted so many years of not being in love with you.”

Margaery kept silent for a short moment.

“I know our parents gave us no choice in the matter, but I think that even if they had not chosen you I would have wanted to marry you anyway.” 

A smile spread across Margaery’s lips. “We might have wasted years, but we also have years of being together ahead of us. We can make up for lost time.”

“Would you want that, Margaery Tyrell?” Robb swallowed and Margaery let her head rest on his shoulder.

“I would love to steal some dates in between all our official tasks, Robb Stark.” She swallowed. “Because maybe, maybe I would have been jealous of any other queen Stark if I had not been the one who had gotten your hand in marriage.”

“Maybe?” Robb winked and pressed a quick kiss on her forehead.

“No, not maybe.” Margaery corrected herself. “Certainly. You’re a true catch, Crown Prince Stark.”

“So are you, Princess Stark-Tyrell.”


End file.
